You might think of a
"friends of the library group" as something like a PTA group, some
retired women who are looking for some nice charity work to occupy their time,
holding meetings and bake sales, or maybe book sales, to raise money.

You would be severely
underestimating this group. Members do hold meetings and sell books to raise
money, but they are passionate about literacy, books, reading and making our
community a better place, and they understand better than most of us just how
important a role literacy plays in every aspect of our society. And so they
established the Light of Literacy Awards program.

Light of Literacy awards are
given to recognize and honor the work of people in our community who promote
literacy. The people nominated for these awards do some of the expected things
— they teach, tutor and give away books to children. But they accomplish these
things — and more — in some very creative and unexpected ways.

One award is made in each of
six categories annually: business, adult, educator, higher education, youth and
nonprofit organization. This year, 37 nominations were submitted. Anyone can
submit a nomination. All nominees were recognized individually at the
breakfast.

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Education
is key, he said. Readers are more likely to vote, volunteer in the community,
live independently and otherwise function as citizens.READ
MORE !

“The last 21 sessions we have worked on
sounding out words. Mary (not her real name) reads every week for a longer
period of time. She is doing better, paying attention to the words that make a
difference in meaning of sentences….I’m so happy she makes time every week to
meet and work on improving her reading skills. We enjoy one another’s company;
we go to the library, to lunch and even volunteer at the Food Bank once in a
while.”

—notes
from sandy

These
are progress notes from Sandy, who tutors throughLiteracy Action Corps of Columbia.
She has been involved with LAC for over a year. Originally Sandy decided to
take the tutor training because she loves to read and wanted to share her
enthusiasm for reading with others; like many tutors, she couldn’t imagine not
being able to read proficiently. She and her student start off many sessions
with a funny poem to set a light, fun tone for the hour they spend together. To
Sandy, the wonderful thing about tutoring is the joy of exposing her student to
new ways of discovering things for the first time — like finding new places on
a map or reading a recipe all the way through. Building a rapport with her
student is “icing on the cake” to Sandy.

LAC is
an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that trains tutors and connects them
with adult students who have low literacy skills or internationals who want to
improve their English, providing them with opportunities to become more self-reliant,
productive members of society. Tutors help their adult students achieve their
life goals, complete job applications, pass a driver’s test, become a US
citizen, write a letter or read to their children.READ
MORE !

“I am proud to have our Library
Literacy Day during National Library Week and proud of our program,” Wegener
said. “I’m amazed at the commitment and dedication of the tutors who provide
their time, knowledge and skills in service to our learners.”

Sue Gillison, program manager, spoke
about the great results the program has achieved. Sue and Kim Torrez, Tulare
City literacy specialists, each introduced a learner to the audience. Edward Villarreal
from Visalia and Yvette Armenta from Tulare were chosen for this honor due to
their accomplishments as adult literacy clients.

Villarreal improved his skills in
reading, writing and mathematics, and Armenta earned her GED and recently
started a career with the State Farm Insurance Company.

Board Chairman Steven Worthley read
the proclamation, which stated that “The County of Tulare is pleased with the
success of thelibrary’s
literacyprograms for adults within Tulare County, and commends and
publicly acknowledges the efforts of the program staff, volunteer tutors and
learners in their future endeavors.”READ
MORE !